Lev Kassil


Lev Abramovich Kassil was a Soviet writer of juvenile and young adult literature, depicting Soviet life, teenagers and their world, school, sports, cultural life, and war.

Biography

Born into a Jewish family June 27, 1905 in Pokrovskaya sloboda in Saratov Governorate. Finished a local gymnasium later transformed into a United labour school. In 1923 Kassil entered Moscow State University, where he studied aerodynamics. He published his first tale in 1925, and eventually became a REF and LEF member. In 1927 Mayakovsky invited him to share in the magazine called New LEF. His most important works were two autobiographical novels for young people dealing with student life before the Revolution, Konduit and Shvambraniya ; the two were revised and combined into one book called Konduit i Shvambraniya.
In 1936 was the premiere of the film The Goalkeeper written by Lev Kassil.
His books were often "development novels" describing how young people could, despite their mistakes, reach a mature view of life. Modesty, unselfishness, endurance, and courage were virtues that Kassil held dear.
In 1950 he received the Stalin Prize for his book «Улица младшего сына», the life story of young Volodia Dubinin and his struggle during the German invasion of the Soviet Union.
Kassil taught at the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute for a long period. In 1965 he was elected member of the Academy of Pedagogical Science of the Soviet Union.
A minor planet, 2149 Schwambraniya, discovered in 1977 by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Chernykh, is named after the fictional land from his novel The Black Book and Schwambrania.

Selected works